I didn’t receive the confirmation.. it’s more than a month now. I know they received it, since i sent it in as registered letter.
But in my situation, SEM opened a case for my naturalization before i even applied. They sent me a letter saying we noticed you are collecting documents for naturalization so we opened a case for you, here it is, include it when you send your application in. I wonder if this is the reason why they dont confirm the receipt of docs.

That’s freaking creepy!

I thought the same thing but hey, why not

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to thank you all for your responses on this thread. I live in Switzerland (Kanton Zürich; Gemeinde Stadt Zürich) since 8 years, speak Deutsch B1, am married to a Swiss whose homecanton is Ticino, have applied for the facilitated naturalisation almost 3 months back, have my final interview at the Stadthaus on 7th March 2022. My next post will be about my experience during the interview.

Cheers,
Prateek

3 months and you have your interview scheduled. That’s quite fast! I don't think i’ve seen anyone faster than that here.

Little question, did you receive the approval of SEM on letter B or A or registered letter? Thanks for your answer

I think B post, definitely not registered

I thought it was in letter A

The chances of any unregistered letter not arriving in Switzerland is miniscule, so there is no point them sending things by A or registered post when the overall added expense would not justify the rarity of anything not arriving.

OK. as there is a time limit of 30 for the appeal .. so I thought it would come faster in A

Did my interview. 20minutes.
A few questions to check I am married, not divorced, not in debt.
Then why wanting to be Swiss. The person did not read the paperwork, that I was in the local fire brigade, etc.
Then the "test" : who is Swiss president, associate cantons and languages, when was CH founded, what does CH mean...

Answer within 2-3 months which I cannot wait to get with the Ukrainian situation...

Hi all,

I just got my passport, and thought I should add my timeline as I learned a lot from this thread.

2021

March - Received application guidance from SEM, gathered all the required docs, agreed my referees

Mid April - Sat B1/A2 exam at FMZug, received certificate a week later (note: some other places take 4 weeks to send Goethe results)

Late April - Applied for Sprachenpass (online) at FIDE (note: the B1/A2 cert document is not sufficient for the SEM)

Late April - Sprachenpass approved, paid invoice immediately, document arrived in post a week later

Mid May - My completed application arrived at SEM

Mid June - Received 900 CHF invoice from SEM, paid immediately

Early Sep - Received letter and additional form from Kanton Zürich. Search for: “Erklärung über die Erfüllung der Einbürgerungsvoraussetzungen im erleichterten Verfahren (Selbstdeklaration Erwachsene)” & currently available here: https://docplayer.org/110257907-Erkl...rwachsene.html

Early Sep - My completed declaration arrived at Zürich

Mid Oct - Received “Einladung zum Gespräch” for early Nov from my Gemeinde, advising that I would be tested on my German language skills and knowledge of Switzerland, and pointing me to www.ch.ch, https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/klick-auf-die-schweiz, and “Der Bund kurz erklärt” (https://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/de/home/d...-erklaert.html. All of these are available in English.

Early Nov - Sat the interview and was told I had passed :-)

Mid Nov - Received letter from Kanton Zürich confirming documents & processing were now with SEM

Late Nov - Received letter from SEM requesting re-confirmation of marriage and respect for public safety, returned via post same-day

Late Dec - Received letter from SEM notifying of conditional approval, pending any appeal from my new Heimatort (due within 30 days)

2022

Mid Feb - Received letter from SEM confirming naturalisation (effective as of early Feb); same day confirmed with Heimatort that they had registered me in Infostar/"Personenstandsregister", and ordered Heimatschein and Familienausweis; then the same day also booked passport appointment online via https://www.ch-edoc-passantrag.admin.ch/#/antraggesuch (nothing available for 2+ months & booked the wrong day accidentally, so emailed to ask how to change it)

Next day - Call from Passbüro (nur auf Deutsch) offering appointment next week (!)

Day after that - Received letter from Gemeinde confirming registration (Schriftenempfangsschein), plus instructions for how to order passport and ID; also received the Heimatschein and Familienausweis I'd ordered from my Heimatort

Following week - Biometric appointment in Zürich for passport and ID - super efficient service

Two days later - Passport and ID arrived by registered post but I wasn't home!

The next day - Collected them from post office

So all together 9.5 months for the processing, plus a month or two to get documents ready, sit the German test, etc.

The most stressful parts for me were the interview and all the waiting.

My advice for the interview:

1. Definitely get your German to a proper B1 conversational standard. The interview was at a higher level than the "Sprechen" part of the Goethe exam.

2. Practice listening to and answering example questions in German, especially the personal ones like “why do you want to be Swiss”.

3. For the knowledge content, for me the most important resource was “Der Bund kurz erklärt”. I studied this in English then learned the key points again in German. I tested myself with the Bürger CH app and some other practice tests people have mentioned here already. Honestly this was too much prep, but if I had my time again I'd do the same thing. It helped me give good answers, e.g. instead of "26" I could say "well we have 26 in total but six of those are half cantons", etc.

4. Relax. My interviewer was super friendly and it was just a chat, not an interrogation. The whole thing took 20 minutes, starting with an explanation of the format, then some re-confirmation of my application details & checking that I don't have plans to divorce, then no more than 10 questions: why do I want to be Swiss, what do I like about Switzerland, how many members in the Bundesrat, name three political parties, name three Swiss newspapers, what is the "capital" city, name some traditional events, how many cantons, am I a member of any clubs e.g. for sports, etc. I guess this may vary by Gemeinde, interviewer, etc., but if you've done the prep it isn't hard - they have a limited set of questions they can ask and they aren't trying to fail you.

Good luck to everyone going through the process!

Dear Treppenwitz,

Questions:

1. Did you have a written test or only the 10 verbal questions?
2. Which is your Gemeinde in Kanton Zürich?

Thanks,

Hi Akewimusic,

It was just a verbal test, nothing written. However I have heard this can vary by Gemeinde. I also imagine they could have asked more questions if they wanted to.

I'd rather not give my specific Gemeinde, but I can say it's not very far from Lake Zürich, and there are a few foreigners like me living here. So I can imagine it would be easier here than somewhere more rural without any foreigners, but also probably more difficult than Zürich city or somewhere with more "expats". I've done quite a few things to integrate here and was able to talk about those in the interview.

All the best!

Thank you very much

Hello everybody,
How do you count the time after 30 days to become Swiss? If for example on March 7 I received the 30-day letter, then is it April 7 or April 8 the date that I officially became Swiss? Or maybe they don't count that way.. thanks for sharing your experience

I'm not sure what the official rules are, but in my case the citizenship date in my letter worked out to be two weeks after the 30 days had expired. Hope that helps!

Hi guys

Please share your success stories and updates it’s always nice to read those while waiting.

Do you expect longer processing times due to a high amount of S permits to be issued?

I don't think the delays will be longer because it's two different services... between permit and nationality. after me I resigned my two declarations of marriage and security since 2 months and I'm still waiting. While the others received a response in 1 month

You are almost there though, stay strong!